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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries from New York has organized a prayer vigil to address the federal government shutdown, now in its ninth day. The event named the Interfaith Rally and Faith Vigil for Health Justice took place outside a church in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, featuring prominent Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faith leaders along with fellow Democratic lawmakers.
The gathering aimed to urge Republican congressional leaders to seek a bipartisan solution to fund the federal government. Jeffries and his fellow Democrats emphasized the importance of including healthcare policy concessions in any agreement.
In a notable contrast to their absence from a vigil held by GOP lawmakers last month for the martyred conservative activist Charlie Kirk, House Democrats were present at this rally. While a few rank-and-file Democrats attended the earlier event, they were primarily absent when Jeffries addressed reporters, providing a brief answer to their inquiries about his absence. He simply stated that he had a meeting.
During his remarks at the vigil, Jeffries shared a powerful message, saying, ‘I grew up in church learning, of course, that what the Bible teaches us is to stand up for the least amongst us — the lost, the left behind, those whose stations in life may not have always dealt them the best of hands.’
The House Minority Leader criticized certain members of Congress, stating, ‘What we’re dealing with right now in the United States Congress is a group of people who we sometimes say they go to church, and they pray on Sunday. But then they come to Washington, D.C., and they prey on the American people for the rest of the week, prey on the poor, prey on the sick, prey on the afflicted.’
He referenced a verse from the New Testament to reinforce his stance on Republican resistance to Democratic demands. Jeffries quoted, ‘We are troubled on every side, but not distressed, perplexed, but never in despair,’ highlighting the challenges Democrats face in the current political climate.
Jeffries further noted, ‘I think it’s fair to say that we’ve got trouble all around us. A hater in the White House, haters in the Congress, haters throughout the Cabinet, trouble all around us. But we’re not distressed because we believe in the resilience and the goodness of the American people.’
Among those who spoke at the vigil were House Minority Whip Katherine Clark from Massachusetts and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from California.
The government officially shut down at midnight on October 1, marking the start of the 2026 fiscal year. This occurred after both Democrats and Republicans failed to reach an agreement on a spending bill.
Last month, the House passed a bill aimed at maintaining federal funding at levels established in the 2025 fiscal year, extending through November 21. The measure known as a continuing resolution included minimal policy riders, primarily an additional $88 million earmarked for security initiatives for lawmakers, the White House, and the judicial branch.
This continuing resolution intended to grant congressional negotiators more time to finalize a comprehensive budget deal for fiscal year 2026.
However, many Democrats from both the House and Senate expressed their frustration over being excluded from negotiations regarding federal funding. They have actively pushed for an extension of Obamacare subsidies that were enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic, which are set to expire at the end of 2025.
Additionally, Democrats proposed a counter-measure for the continuing resolution, seeking to fund the government through October 31 while reversing cuts to Medicaid included in the GOP’s prior legislation known as One Big, Beautiful Bill.
This alternative would have restored federal funding to National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service, cuts made by the Trump administration earlier in the year.
Republicans swiftly dismissed this counter-proposal as impractical, asserting that it was laden with partisan demands. They also pointed to the fact that Democrats supported a ‘clean’ funding measure similar to the GOP’s proposal 13 times during the Biden administration.
At the rally, Rev. Leslie Copeland-Tune from the National Council of Churches also addressed the audience, criticizing Republican policies. She proclaimed, ‘I declare to you today, not having healthcare for 24 million people so that rich people can be richer is terror on the earth. I declare to you today that cutting food stamps and SNAP and other food programs is terror on the earth.’
Through her remarks, she called for divine intervention, saying, ‘We pray, Oh God, that you would turn stony hearts to flesh and turn those who would do wrong to make them do right. God, we pray that you would help us to meet this moment, to do our assignment, and to be courageous while we do it.’
As the ongoing government shutdown continues, Senate Democrats have rejected the GOP’s plan in six separate votes, indicating a pattern likely to continue as negotiations unfold.
